U.S. seeking to invest in Myanmar, boost trade

YANGON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government was seeking ways and means to make investment in Myanmar, prioritizing the sectors that could bring improvement in daily of ordinary people, Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis was quoted by local media as saying on Saturday.

Addressing the meeting with students and officials of social organizations here on Friday, Marantis underlined that the most important point was to realize a market-oriented economic system in Myanmar and that market liberalization was the key to economic development, said the New Light of Myanmar.

He went on to say that the U.S. government would carry out economic cooperation with Myanmar and work to boost bilateral trade.

Also on Friday, Myanmar Commerce Minister U Win Myint met with the seven-member delegation led by Marantis in Nay Pyi Taw and discussed matters concerning trade and investment between the two countries, United States' offer for generalized system of preferences (GSP) in Myanmar, benefits of GSP and effective utilization of it, among others.

Marantis' visit to Myanmar came out two days after EU's economic sanctions on Myanmar were lifted.

The four-day visit of U.S. delegation concludes on Saturday.

According to Myanmar official statistics, U.S. investment in Myanmar amounted to 243.56 million U.S. dollars in 15 projects, accounting for merely 0.58 percent of the total as of February 2013 since Myanmar opened to such investment in late 1988.

Bilateral trade between Myanmar and the United States reached 190.96 million U.S. dollars in 2012, of which Myanmar's export to the United States accounted for 16.47 million dollars while its import stood at 174.49 million dollars.